Law Commons^™

Do Codes Of Ethics Actually Shape Legal Practice?, Margaret Ann Wilkinson, Christa Walker, Peter Mercer

Law Publications

In theory, professional codes of conduct are supposed to assist lawyers in choosing the appropriate course of action when they are faced with an ethical dilemma and it is expected that lawyers will, in practice, turn to such codes for guidance. A recent research initiative undertaken by legal scholars at the University of Western Ontario sought to examine the effectiveness of codes of ethics in maintaining standards of behaviour within the legal profession in Ontario by examining the kinds of ethical problems confronting lawyers in that province and the extent to which they were resolved through the use of professional …